To develop patience, practice the pause. February 21, 2021 When you’ve been trapped at home with your family for months, drained of compassion by the Groundhog Day experience that has piggy-backed on Covid, the antidote to wanting to rip your children’s faces off is patience. We want to be… Read more
We tell them to find, and connect with, each other. January 7, 2021 If I told you when I was eighteen, my mom, my little brother and sister, and I moved from Troy, Tennessee, to Chicago, you would know a fact about my family. Still, you wouldn’t know me. But… Read more
Loosen the Iron Grip You’ve had on Some of Your Thoughts. January 24, 2021 Believing every thought we think isn’t a problem. Unless we assume our ideas and opinions represent facts. In order to be reasoning, thoughtful, beneficial members of society, we need to see our thoughts for… Read more
One predictor will be how you answer that question. January 9, 2021 Climate change will still be haunting us. Covid-19 isn’t going away any time soon. And the last guy in the oval office will be tweeting once again until he’s been arrested for any one of numerous charges.… Read more
December 26, 2020 Not if You’re a meditator. “In all your life, only a few moments matter. Mostly you never get a good look at them except in hindsight, long after they’ve zipped past you.” From Tana French’s New York Times best-seller, Faithful Place. As a child, I was pretty… Read more
December 13, 2020 I know this is a departure from my usual Seedlings. It’s just that I’ve wanted to send something light and playful. I hope you enjoy it. Oops! My new favorite word. Oops is a softener; it removes things. Like fabric softener removes wrinkles, oops… Read more
November 29, 2020 Hint: It’s not the candy’s fault if I overdo it. It’s not Covid-19. It’s not capitalism or socialism. It’s not the control freaks in my life. It’s not conservatives or liberals. It’s not my nomadic childhood. It’s not pro-lifers or pro-choicers. And I’m not to blame… Read more
November 15, 2020 In my last post, I quoted Holocaust survivor and brilliant psychiatrist Victor Frankl. I think his wisdom bears repeating: “Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” Many years ago,… Read more
November 1, 2020 Mature listening involves three things when you are in disagreement with someone about anything. I’ve been studying listening most of my adult life, and I still don’t have it nailed. I’m writing this post to myself, but I hope you’ll relate. Since I don’t have all that… Read more
October 18, 2020 If you knew you were dying, what would you choose to do with every day you had left? Whether you have twenty, forty, or sixty years — even though sixty years sounds like a long time — it will glide past like the Shanghai Magiev in China… Read more